This article presents results of two research studies which focus on the analyses of specific needs associated with members of a delinquent subculture and the psychological alterations which occur as a result of adaptation to their imprisonment. In the first case, the specificity and differences in the area of needs were determined by content analysis of prison correspondence and further by means of an analysis of content association as reactions to a complex of incomplete sentences. The differences have been ascertained by virtue of factors that are considered significant from the point of view of delinquency and potential recidivism. A great deal of attention is focussed on prisonisation as a specific adaptation to imprisonment and its influence on the dissimilarity in the structure of the needs of those prisoners investigated. The results of both investigations facilitate mutual comparison. They also partially refer to the discriminating capability of the applied methods. The findings and results are applicable in penitentiary practice and are significant for the practical application by psychologists and other specialists in their work with offenders.

Charles University Prague 1st Faculty of Medicine and General Teaching Hospital Department of Psychiatry Prague Czech Republic